If you work in social media in the TV industry, these are exciting, stressful times. And now there’s yet another social network where TV brands are beginning to appear. It’s called Pinterest, which describes itself as an “online pinboard” of things you love, and it’s beginning to draw a larger audience beyond your standard early-adopters (an estimated 40 million uniques) — especially women.
Probably the most aggressive TV brands on Pinterest are the Today Show and the Travel Channel, and other TV brands are beginning to appear, from the Food Network and Cooking Channel to the Weather Channel and Seattle’s KOMO TV. Pinterest is primarily an image-sharing experience built around “boards” — for example, the Today Show has food, travel and “anchor antics” — with “pins” as photos. As you follow different boards from others, your Pinterest home page is a huge pin-board of all these favorite things, illustrated as photos and short descriptions. You can “repin” (think “reblog”), like and comment on different pins.
For TV brands, one challenge is the availability of photos. The Weather Channel has no shortage, thanks to the thousands of weather photos submitted by users to Weather.com. But it’s also getting a little creative, adding boards like “weather gadgets” and “weather style” as well as cold-weather recipes, many of the photos “repins” from others. KOMO News, which just launched its Pinterest, features news photos along with “We heart the Northwest” scenes, pets, Seattle style and sky photos.
Overall, however, few TV brands have ventured out to Pinterest. But if you’re a TV organization that caters primarily to women — especially if you feature aspirational things to buy, experience and eat — Pinterest is a must. For others, it’s a great experiment that requires you to think beyond the traditional confines of your brand.
Is your TV brand on Pinterest? Let us know in comments below…